Turlough's sabotage causes the TARDIS to make an emergency landing on a
space station called Terminus, where victims of the horrible, virulent
Lazar disease go to die. The Doctor discovers that Terminus is powered
by two enormous engines, one of which exploded long ago, an event which
instigated the Big Bang and the creation of the universe. Now the other
engine is on the brink of detonating as well -- an event which will have
cataclysmic consequences for the cosmos.

Production

Stephen Gallagher's first Doctor Who story was Season Eighteen's
Warriors' Gate. As production was beginning
on that serial during the summer of 1980, Gallagher began discussing
further ideas with script editor Christopher Bidmead. He suggested a
notion about a spaceship from another dimension with an experimental
“Pandora drive” which had the potential to destroy the
entire universe. Bidmead and producer John Nathan-Turner were both very
happy with Warriors' Gate, and encouraged
Gallagher to start developing his new concept.

Almost a year then passed without communication from the Doctor
Who production office. Finally, on May 12th, 1981, an inquiry from
Gallagher's agent prompted Nathan-Turner to write to him and apologise
for the delay. Nathan-Turner explained that the overhaul of the show's
principal cast (most notably the departure of Tom Baker and the addition
of Peter Davison), and the replacement of Bidmead by Antony Root and
then Eric Saward, had left the production office in a state of upheaval
for several months. He assured Gallagher that he was nonetheless still
interested in the proposed storyline, and on August 4th, he and Saward
met with Gallagher to discuss its status.

Peter Davison lobbied to retain Nyssa, whom he felt was
the most appropriate companion for his Doctor

At this point, the production team was in the midst of planning a
trilogy of stories for Season Twenty. Intended to be the core of the
year's schedule, these adventures would introduce a new companion named
Turlough who would secretly be in the service of the evil Black
Guardian. Nathan-Turner and Saward felt that Gallagher's idea was
appropriate for the trilogy's second installment, in which Turlough
would unsuccessfully attempt to destroy the Doctor, but without calling
suspicion on himself. Suitably amended, Gallagher's storyline was
commissioned under the title Terminus on August 10th.

After delivering his story breakdown, Gallagher met again with the
production team on October 14th. At this time, he was informed that
Terminus would be the final story for Nyssa, a character
Nathan-Turner felt had run its course. Davison disagreed with his
producer and actively lobbied to retain Nyssa, whom he felt to be the
most appropriate companion for his Doctor. Saward asked Gallagher to
provide a fitting swansong for Nyssa, placing more emphasis on the
character than was usually the case.

The script for part one of Terminus was commissioned on September
15th, with the remaining episodes contracted on December 3rd. Gallagher
found inspiration in Norse mythology, naming the Vanir after a lesser
group of fertility gods. The individual Vanir also bore monikers
redolent of the Norse culture: Bor was the father of Odin, head of the
Norse pantheon; Sigurd was a great Norse hero (also known as Siegfried
and Sivard Snarensvend); and Eirak was initially called Eirik, after a
king of Norway and Northumbria also known as Eric Haraldsson or Eric
Bloodaxe. Similarly, the Garm was named for a monstrous hellhound (also
known as Garmr) who appears during the time of Ragnarok, the twilight of
the Norse gods. Meanwhile, the term “lazar” was an archaic
word for “leper”, derived from the Biblical figure of
Lazarus. It also seems that Gallagher originally wanted to call Kari
“Yoni”, but was asked to rechristen the character when
Saward observed that “yoni” is the Sanskrit word for the
female reproductive organ.

Terminus was designated Serial 6G, and would be the only
Doctor Who story directed by BBC veteran Mary Ridge. In addition
to serving as an associate producer on The Duchess Of Duke
Street, Ridge had amassed a plethora of credits as a director,
including Z Cars, Dixon Of Dock Green, The
Newcomers and Blake's 7; she died in September 2000.
Unfortunately, Ridge was confronted with trouble almost immediately
upon starting work on Terminus. She had originally been allocated
six studio days -- a typical number for a Doctor Who story with
no location filming. However, an industrial dispute was brewing between
the BBC and the electricians' union, resulting in a major reorganisation
of shooting schedules. As a result, Ridge saw one of her studio days
clawed back, meaning that her team would be up against the clock to get
Terminus in the can.

An industrial dispute resulted in one of the six studio
days for Terminus being clawed back

More troubles arose in the area of costume design. A miscommunication
with Rod Vass of freelance props firm Imagineering led him to believe
that the Vanir armour he was asked to fabricate would be purely
decorative. He was therefore shocked to learn upon delivery that they
would be required for combat. The costumes proved to be extremely noisy
when involved in vigorous activity, and costly refurbishing was
required to address the problem.

Ridge would also later claim that costume designer Dee Robson crafted
the outfits for Kari and Olvir in light blue, despite the fact that
Ridge had made it known that this would be the “key” colour
employed for special effects involving colour separation overlay.
According to Ridge, this meant that the costumes then had to be recast
in white, at significant cost. (This account has been disputed by
Robson, who has asserted that Kari and Olvir's costumes had always been
white.)

Production on Terminus began on September 28th, 1982, when model
filming took place at BBC Television Centre Presentation Studio B. The
next two days were spent at the Ealing Television Film Studios, working
on the scenes in the ductwork. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered
that episode one was underrunning, and Saward asked Gallagher to provide
two new one-minute scenes. Unfortunately, Gallagher misinterpreted the
request and instead extended several existing scenes to fill out two
minutes' worth of material. Consequently, Gallagher's amendments were
discarded.

The first studio session for Terminus took place in TC6 on
October 11th and 12th. Sadly, the production continued to be plagued
with problems. On the first day, a power failure resulted in a two-hour
delay; when the crew was finally ready to go, Ridge discovered that one
set had been erected off its marks, incurring a further stoppage. Then,
Nathan-Turner was forced to call a halt to the recording of scenes
involving the interior of the TARDIS console because the correct
circuity was missing. This meant that Ridge had to record sequences on
other sets which were not yet properly lit. Later, it was learned that
neither of the drone robot props had been tested before being brought
into the studio, and indeed only one of them was found to work
correctly. Despite all of these disruptions, Ridge was able to complete
almost all of the scenes set within the TARDIS and the adjoining liner
corridor.

Sarah Sutton was disappointed with her final story, and
could not understand the rationale for Nyssa removing her skirt

More troubles arose the next day. Visual effects designer Peter Pegrum
was responsible for Kari and Olvir's helmets, but he had believed that
these would only be carried, and never worn. When Liza Goddard and
Dominic Guard donned the headgear, they quickly found that a lack of air
holes meant that the helmets easily fogged up, and had to be modified.
Later, one of the extras playing a Lazar accidentally grabbed at Janet
Fielding's top during a scene, causing the actress to expose
herself.

Ridge concentrated on material in the liner control room as well as
various corridor sequences, but was unable to complete everything she
had planned. For the first time in her prolific career, Ridge was
appalled to realise that she would have to delay some scenes until the
already-packed second studio block. This resulted in an increasingly
tense atmosphere on set, with Davison incensed that the actors'
performances were being given short shrift in the rush to record. Sarah
Sutton, meanwhile, was very disappointed with her final story, and could
not understand the rationale for Nyssa removing her skirt.

For the second studio session, spanning October 25th to 27th,
Terminus moved to TC8. On the 25th, Ridge's team dealt with
scenes in the receiving area, the stockyard and the elevator, alongside
some of the material in the Terminus control room. The pilot had
originally been dressed with cobwebs; Davison objected, observing that
he was not meant to be dead but simply moving very slowly, and Ridge
accordingly ordered them removed. Nyssa's farewell was amongst the
sequences recorded on this day. Originally, she and the Doctor merely
shook hands as they parted, but Davison and Sutton decided that the
Doctor should kiss Nyssa on the cheek instead.

October 26th saw the recording of scenes in the recovery room, the Vanir
headquarters, the equipment store and the Lazar ward, while material in
the damaged area was left for the 27th. The sets for the Terminus
control room and various corridors were used on both days. As time
ticked away on the 27th, it looked as though an extra hour of recording
time arranged by Nathan-Turner would permit Ridge to complete all the
outstanding sequences. At the last minute, however, Nathan-Turner
informed the director that she would not be able to have the additional
hour after all, and a remount would be necessary.

At the last minute, Mary Ridge found out that she could
not have the extra hour she needed to finish recording

Ridge was furious; the incident set a frost into her relationship with
Nathan-Turner which would never completely thaw. Sutton was deeply
disappointed by the development, because it meant that after dealing
with the high emotion of leaving Doctor Who, she would now have
to come back and complete her last serial at a later date. Davison was
also very frustrated with Nathan-Turner, whose sour demeanour he blamed
for casting a pall over Sutton's farewell party.

It was originally hoped that Terminus would be remounted during
the making of the next story, Enlightenment. However, the production of Enlightenment was itself delayed until early
1983 because of the electricians' industrial action, and so
Terminus ultimately reentered the studio on December 18th,
partway through the making of The King's
Demons. The remaining scenes in the TARDIS console room and
corridor, as well as those in the liner control room, were finally
completed in TC1; in the interim, the liner set had unfortunately been
damaged in storage. Sadly, even the long-delayed end of its recording
was not the last of the problems which faced Terminus. Following
its broadcast in February 1983, the Doctor Who production office
came under fire from several organisations involved in leprosy awareness
who felt that Terminus promulgated archaic beliefs about the
nature of the disease.

The end of the tumultuous production of Terminus also marked
Sarah Sutton's final regular Doctor Who performance. After
leaving the programme, Sutton made a handful of appearances in theatre,
radio and television -- including episodes of Casualty and
Unnatural Pursuits -- but largely withdrew from acting to raise
her daughter, Hannah. She contributed cameo performances as Nyssa to
Peter Davison's last serial, 1984's The Caves Of
Androzani, and later to the thirtieth-anniversary special, Dimensions In Time, in 1993. Since 2000,
Sutton has made regular appearances as Nyssa in Big Finish Productions'
range of Doctor Who audio plays.

Terminus was also Stephen Gallagher's last Doctor Who
story, although he submitted one further script idea, called
“Nightmare Country” which was rejected for reasons of cost.
Gallagher went on to write more than a dozen novels, including
Oktober, The Boat House and The Kingdom Of Bones,
as well as episodes of shows such as Bugs and Rosemary &
Thyme. More recently, he has developed such television projects as
Crusoe (for American television) and Eleventh Hour.